A sweet surprise: Workers in Anderson find golden treasure

ANDERSON - City of Anderson cemetery workers were hearing a steady buzz and it wasn't coming from their chainsaws. Workers recently found a golden treasure in a hollow oak tree at the old Silver Brook Cemetery.

The tree was one of 48 dying oak trees in the cemetery, which has more than 250 trees. The buzzing tree fell to the ground by means of a chainsaw and darting out of a section of the fallen oak was a raccoon, which ran far away and fast from the three city workers, particularly the one wielding the chainsaw.

The only thing left buzzing after the chainsaws shut down were the bees protecting a large section of honeycomb. The golden prize glistened in the 40-degree cold weather of the morning. Slowly oozing honey and with bees starting to wake up, the tree gave up its sweet prize in the center.

"We're gonna let them calm down," said Craig Callaham, one of the city cemetery workers helping clear the trees.

He later called a friend to bring a gallon-size glass jar for what is now a treasured treat for the workers.

"Now all you've got to do is bring the biscuits," said Randall Smith, another one of the city workers, with a smile.